Baby stingrays do not have legs. Stingrays are cartilaginous fish, related to sharks and skates. They lack the bone structure and limbs necessary to be considered legged creatures at any stage of their development. The confusion often arises from observing small appendages on the ray’s underside, which can look like tiny legs when the animal is swimming or resting on the ocean floor.
Anatomy: How Stingrays Move
The primary means of movement for a stingray is its large, flattened body, known as the disc, which is essentially a pair of pectoral fins fused to the sides of its head and trunk. This unique anatomy allows them to glide through the water. Their movement is powered by the coordinated motion of these broad fins, not by a tail fin.
Stingrays employ two main styles of aquatic locomotion depending on the species and size. Smaller rays often use undulatory movement, creating a wave-like motion that travels along the edge of the fin from front to back, propelling them smoothly over the substrate. Larger, more pelagic species use oscillatory movement, or “flapping,” where the entire pectoral fin moves up and down like a wing, giving them greater speed and maneuverability in open water.
Mistaken Identity: Visual Confusion
The small structures that people often mistake for legs are the pelvic fins, located near the base of the tail. These paired fins are much smaller than the large pectoral fins and are used primarily for steering and stabilization, not for walking. They help the ray maneuver its body when navigating the ocean floor or settling into the sand.
In male stingrays, the visual confusion is amplified by the presence of specialized organs called claspers. Claspers are elongated, tube-like extensions that develop along the inner margin of the pelvic fins. These structures are used for internal fertilization during mating, serving as a means to transfer sperm to the female. When a male pup is viewed from below, these developing claspers can easily be misinterpreted as a pair of miniature back legs due to their distinct, paired projection.
Stingray Pups: Born Ready
Stingrays reproduce through internal fertilization and are mostly ovoviviparous, meaning they give birth to live young called pups. The embryos develop inside the mother, nourished first by a yolk sac and later by a protein-rich uterine secretion often called “uterine milk.” This developmental process means the pups are born fully formed and independent.
The baby stingrays are miniature versions of the adults from the moment of birth. They emerge with the same anatomical structure, including the large pectoral fins for swimming and the small pelvic fins. Because they are born fully functional and capable of immediate survival, the stingray pup never goes through a developmental stage that includes legs.